Retro-Futurism: The Films of Lev Kalman & Whitney Horn
A duo since day one, Kalman and Horn began making films together in 2003, when they were still in college. Dedicated to working with celluloid, together they have forged a singular, vibes-forward aesthetic—a fusion of pastiche and sincerity that is both playful and sharp, silly and analytical, maximalist and joyously, inventively lo-fi. So armed, they have taken cinematic trips to the 1890s and the 1990s alike, period film territory braved by few shoestring-budget practitioners.
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Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn Introduce "Dream Team"
Directed by Metrograph | 2 mins | 2024
Filmmakers Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn introduce their newest film, "Dream Team." -
Dream Team
Directed by Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn | 93 mins | 2024
Making films together since 2004, Kalman and Horn have developed and refined a style that’s entirely their own, an idiosyncratic blend of ethereal synth-scored reverie, deadpan absurdist humor, sly sociopolitical observation, and genre-ben... -
Two Plains & a Fancy
Directed by Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn | 89 mins | 2018
A dandy, a mystic, and a geologist adrift in the Colorado desert: here Kalman and Horn take what sounds like it could be a set-up for a joke and turn it into a wry and layered period piece. Urbanites set out for unfamiliar territory in sear... -
Fun's Over
Directed by Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn | 6 mins | 2006
News of a gonorrhea infection only briefly sours the mood in this early Kalman and Horn short, which telegraphs a cheerful and occasionally violent beach party set in a winkingly lo-fi future. -
Jazz Christmas
Directed by Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn | 9 mins | 2007
The decadent gathering of this early Kalman and Horn short does not take place on Christmas but rather New Year's Eve, 1927, nor does it feature any jazz proper—but it does have characters performing a riff on The Strokes’ “New York City Cop... -
L for Leisure
Directed by Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn | 73 mins | 2014
Only ’90s kids will remember: in this affectionate but ironic throwback, structured as a series of piquant, deadpan vignettes, grad students on vacation lounge and mull over matters both petty and metaphysical. Captured on sparkling 16mm, t... -
Blondes in the Jungle
Directed by Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn | 48 mins | 2009
As much inspired by "Degrassi Junior High" (1987-1991) as Warhol’s "Lonely Cowboys" (1968), Kalman and Horn’s kaleidoscopic 1987-set first feature has the titular blondes, a trio of heedless teens, plunge into the Honduran jungle in search ... -
From 7 Ludlow: Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn in Coversation
Directed by Metrograph | 8 mins | 2024
Filmmakers Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn discuss their 20-year collaboration and their newest film, "Dream Team."
